Amadeo Modigliani was born in Livorno, Italy but spent large parts of his relatively short life in Paris. He met the sculptor Constantin Brancusi in 1909, and until the outbreak of the First World War his own sculptures would clearly be inspired by the Romanian artist. During the war it became increasingly difficult to obtain the materials for sculpture, and Modigliani returned to painting. His newly acquired sculptural skills were applied to the intense and personal portraits he painted. He did a great deal of drawing and preferred to employ living models when creating his celebrated portraits. His sitters were drawn from among the unknown as well as famous people such as Guillaume Apollinaire and Jean Cocteau.